startup
1. the action or process of setting something in motion.
2. a newly established business.
Combining the two definitions you get – the action of setting a new business in motion! I started this blog to help me communicate the journey of our new business venture Zuggand. In this article I’d like to look at the other two other very critical words in the definition: Action and Motion!
Action! You have to get the ball moving. There is a ton of work that goes into just creating the new business. Licensing, tax id, name of the company (ohh my goodness, there is another post for you), bank accounts, business cards, website, office space, accountants, attorneys, and the list goes on and on and on. And with all this work you haven’t even moved the business off of the starting line. (Picture in your head a big ball representing your business, still sitting on the start line. People running all around it trying to get it all ready and you still haven’t even moved an inch.) All of this action is critical and is required over the course of this race, but it really hasn’t added any value (or dollars) to your bottom line.
But before you all get behind your ball and start pushing, do you know for certain that you are pointing in the right direction? Do you know for sure that you are even on the right race track? Are you positive beyond a doubt that you are in the correct game? Those are huge questions! Questions that you shouldn’t take lightly. What if you push your ball and it rolls down a big hill and then you find out that it was the wrong direction? Will you have enough energy and resources to get it back up to the starting point?
I’m attempting to make the point that direction is just as important as action or motion. Maybe it is even more important (that’s a strong hint that it is more important). Take the time and figure out what game you are playing and how you are going to play the game. The best thing about this is that you get to make up your own rules and as long as someone finds value in what you are doing you could play a brand new game and be the first piece on the board and get a massive head start. Doesn’t that sound so much better than being a one in a million.
But why isn’t “in the right direction” part of the definition? Maybe that is why so many startups struggle.
Motion, oh yea, that is critical too. Don’t spend too much time asking all these questions or you could starve. Sooner than later you have to get all of your resources behind your ball and get that sucker moving! So to answer my own question you need all three: action, motion and direction! (see I changed the rules to my own question) Updated startup definition: the action of setting a new business in motion in a specific direction.